Parts of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane are likely to see power cuts for the next 48 hours as repair works on the Kalwa-Talegaon line – one of the four main transmission lines that supply power to Mumbai and its adjoining areas and which tripped on Monday leading to power outage in the city – will take two more days, officials from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) said on Tuesday.
Millions were inconvenienced on Monday as the outage due to grid failure brought the city to a standstill. While the Kalwa-Talegaon line snapped on Saturday, the Kalwa-Padghe line-1 tripped on Monday morning leading to excess load on the Kalwa-Padghe line-2, which tripped at 9.58am. Electricity supply was restored in the eastern suburbs, Navi Mumbai and Thane only after midnight, while several consumers also complained of repeated power cuts in their locality. CM Uddhav Thackeray ordered a probe into the incident, even as experts stressed the need to augment Mumbai’s power capacity.
Officials said the conductor fitted to the Kalwa-Talegaon line on hilly terrains snapped and fell into the valley on October 10. Dinesh Waghmare, managing director, MSEDCL said, “Our team is working there continuously, but intermittent rain is delaying the process.”
At midnight, state energy minister Nitin Raut said the staff was working on a war footing to restore power in parts of Mulund, Thane and Navi Mumbai. He had earlier said the areas did not receive power supply as around 500MW of Tata Power plant was not in sync with the system yet. Later he tweeted, “Tata’s generation started and picking up. I am personally monitoring the situation and assure you that it will gain momentum in an hour.” On Tuesday, sources from Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML) and Tata Power said there were no major complaints of power cuts. “If one line fails, the rest can take the load. But unfortunately on Monday, there was a cascading effect,” Waghmare said. An official from the Maharashtra State Energy Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) said that works on both the Kalwa-Padghe lines were completed.
{{/usCountry}}At midnight, state energy minister Nitin Raut said the staff was working on a war footing to restore power in parts of Mulund, Thane and Navi Mumbai. He had earlier said the areas did not receive power supply as around 500MW of Tata Power plant was not in sync with the system yet. Later he tweeted, “Tata’s generation started and picking up. I am personally monitoring the situation and assure you that it will gain momentum in an hour.” On Tuesday, sources from Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited (AEML) and Tata Power said there were no major complaints of power cuts. “If one line fails, the rest can take the load. But unfortunately on Monday, there was a cascading effect,” Waghmare said. An official from the Maharashtra State Energy Transmission Company Limited (MSETCL) said that works on both the Kalwa-Padghe lines were completed.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Ashok Pendse, a noted power expert, said, “It is important to strengthen the transmission system as 40-50% of Mumbai’s power supply is generated outside the city. A 400-KV additional line is also required to meet the increasing need and we need to probe why Tata’s islanding system did not function.”